This Thunderbolt was owned by the dealership and leased to Don Leddy (driver) during the 1964 season. Leddy raced it at the Nationals in Indy and successfully ran it for the year before giving it back to the dealer. Leddy's nickname was "the Flying Farmer" although little is known of him or about the early history of the car.

During the 1980s the car was owned by (?) and was white with red flames. It appeared at the 1984 20 year Thunderbolt reunion in Ohio this way. (I have the owner's name somewhere and will update this page when I find it.)

Later on, Joe Pitone (sp?) raced the car with a 427 Tunnel port / 4v. At this time the car was red. Somewhere around 1990 or thereabouts, Joe advertised the car and it was purchased by our friend Frank "Diz" Dominick.

Frank painted the car black to match all the others in his great Ford collection. During a visit to his place in 1994, I was able to go over the car very closely, making this the first Thunderbolt that I ever examined.

Diz passed away a few years later and his collection was sold. I found out recently that the Thunderbolt was still there which was very surprising. A few emails and phone calls with his son Frank got the ball rolling so we could get the car out for the 40th anniversary shows, and the rest, as they say, is history.

On May ? 2004 my dad and I traveled to Frank's place and loaded the Thunderbolt. After getting it home I called and ordered brake parts to fix the leaky wheel cylinders and cracked hoses. Just as the time for the All-Ford Nationals at Carlisle approached, we finished up on the car and took it to the event.

Of course the first place we went was the drag strip! After 2 runs we decided the clutch was fried, but I went out for a third run just to show off the car and while it made the pass a rocker arm broke. Luckily I have some great friends and George and Jody Aberts helped me find a rocker arm and put it in right there in the Thunderbolt tent!

Everyone I talked to loved seeing the car out again and said how pretty it was. I can't wait to get the car to Dearborn to show it there too and see all my friends again.